


Till I Found You

by MyTrashyWriting



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Keith is a transfer student, Lance was already going there, M/M, shiro is a teacher, someone gets a little beaten up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 09:52:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12033444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyTrashyWriting/pseuds/MyTrashyWriting
Summary: Keith transfers to another school during his third year. His brother, Shiro, decides to ask a well-liked student for help with getting Keith used to the new place. It doesn't go as planned.





	Till I Found You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so happy I finally managed to finish writing something.
> 
> This fic was inspired by Josef Salvat's song - [Till I Found You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOCtm0bUC08). I was tempted to put a quote from it at the beginning and/or end but then I realised that I wanted to put the whole lyrics there...

“Keith, I beg you, please say that the red stains on your shirt are from jam, ketchup or something along the lines,” Shiro said, exasperated.

“Ah, I must have wiped my hand into the shirt out of habit,” Keith muttered under his breath. “Well, let's make it whatever you want it to be, Shiro?” he tried to look innocent.

“Keith, this is your first day here and you’re already causing problems… I don’t even want to know whose blood it is. I just hope that it wasn’t a student from this school. It’s bad enough that you’re transferring in the middle of the semester. During your third year.”

“It was his fault,” Keith shrugged. 

“Yeah, of course it was,” Shiro sighed. “And you aren't even trying to cover having a fight.”

“Would you prefer if I lied? And I’m not letting anyone touch my bike,” he grumbled. “I asked him to fuck off first! He didn’t so I punched him. Once.”

“Punched… Once…”

“Ok, twice,” Keith corrected himself, not looking at Shiro.

“Anyway, to help you fit in I asked one of the students from my class to, how to say it, show you around? Lance is a really friendly guy, he’s able to get along with everyone so I think it would be nice to get some help from him.”

“Shiro, I don’t need it.”

“No, you don’t _want_ it, Keith. Anyway, he’s kind of late…”

“Yeah, I know I’m late and I’m sorry for that! I run into some… well… trouble and had to swing by the bathroom to wash up a bit,” Lance just arrived and smiled at Shiro. He winced immediately, though, touching his split lip. “Ow, that fucker really got me,” he added quietly.

At this moment, a cold shiver went down Shiro’s spine. He wanted to believe with his whole being that he was wrong, that it was just some fucked up coincidence but the second Lance and Keith looked at each other he knew. He knew that, once again, the universe decided to turn Shiro’s good intentions upside down and fuck with Keith. Nevertheless, he decided to pretend to not realise:

“And here’s Lance! I’m not saying that you two should become best of friends or something but I hope that, thanks to Lance, you will find your place here easier, Keith.”

“Shiro, don’t play dumb,” Keith hissed, clenching his fists and sending Lance death glares. 

“Anything you want me to do, Mr Shirogane,” Lance fluttered his eyelashes at Shiro and then smiled slyly at Keith, challenge in his eyes. “I’ll take care of your beloved little brother and I guarantee you that he’ll have his own little group of friends in no time.”

*

“I can’t believe that the little brother Shiro was talking about is such a thug,” Lance sneered at Keith, the moment they left the room.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what? Am I lying? You fucking punched me. You should be happy that it was a request from Shiro so I decided to keep quiet about the whole thing. Are you even aware how this school treats delinquents? You could have been expelled before even attending your first class,” he laughed.

“Don’t call him ‘Shiro’. And you had it coming, I told you not to touch Red.”

“What? Oh my… Everybody calls him that. People always give nicknames to teachers. Where the hell have you been going to before? Somewhere where it’s acceptable to yell at people out of nowhere and then punch them like a minute later? I’ll have you know that you almost ruined the most handsome face in this school.”

“Woah, I guess girls aren’t exactly happy about going here.”

“You just didn’t,” Lance gasped, stopping in his tracks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Keith smirked at him. “So what’s the first class? Since I haven't got expelled yet?”

*

“Soooo… Keith, how was your first day of school?” Shiro asked Keith in the afternoon when they were eating lunch together.

“Same as always. People were kinda curious but weren’t really approaching me. That loud guy is annoying, though. I can’t believe that you said that he’s friendly and everybody likes him.”

“You and Lance just had a rough start. You should give him a chance. Really, Keith. I’m just worried about you.”

“You don’t have to, I can manage perfectly on my own.”

*

“You know what?” Lance started, catching Keith by his wrist and stopping him from running out of the school the moment the last bell rang.

“Don’t touch me,” Keith growled in an answer, yanking his hand out of Lance’s hold. “What do you want?”

“You could at last pretend.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not my goal to be friends with everyone but being hated doesn’t sit well with me either.”

“Not my problem.”

“Let me finish for fuck’s sake,” Lance sighed. “To be honest I don’t care about you, you've been some weird pain in the ass since you transferred here. But I promised Shiro something and I’m not the one to break my promises. Can you, I don’t know, try to be a little more approachable? It’s not only about me. People are scared of you. Even our classmates. Scared! You've been here for three or four weeks and it's only getting worse!”

“I told you that it’s not my problem. Are you done? I’m in a hurry today. I don’t want to waste my Friday with you spewing nonsense.”

“Not yet. But it won’t take long. Then what’s your problem, really? I saw how you are when you’re alone with Shiro. And, before you came here, he told me a lot about you. And I had a completely different image of his precious brother. So, what’s the deal?”

“I’m gonna ask you one thing instead,” Keith took a step towards Lance, leaning closely into his personal space. “Why the hell are you so interested when you said that you don’t care about me?”

*

“I don’t really know how to deal with him. I don’t want to admit defeat but, really, I have no idea how to approach him or make him more approachable to others.”

“I’m sorry, I was sure that you could manage, with your interpersonal skills and all,” Shiro smiled lightly at Lance.

“No, it’s not like that! I’m flattered that you believed in me! It’s just that… I tried a lot of stuff during these two months. And all I managed is that he, I don’t know… tolerates me? He’s still kinda aggressive but I, more or less, know what his limits are so he doesn’t snap at me anymore. And he isn’t avoiding me now, so there's that too.”

“That’s… good, actually.”

“Huh?”

“He doesn’t want to talk with me about what’s happening at school but, I think that it’s not as bad as you think?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, I see you two together at school a lot.”

“Maybe a bit…” Lance hummed quietly.

“Oh, also! Do you maybe spend lunch breaks together?”

“Yeah, sometimes. Recently he started stealing my food,” Lance grumbled. “Why do you ask?”

“Your food? Oh my… that explains a lot then,” Shiro chuckled. “It really is much better than you think, Lance.”

“Huh?” Lance got confused once again.

“How to explain it the best? Oh, I know,” Shiro clapped his hands. “Let’s take a cat. Cats seem like assholes sometimes, right? They might be in the same room as you but seemingly pretend that they don’t care.”

“Yeah.”

“But that’s not true. To put it simply, they are hanging out with you and are just respecting your personal space. I know that this might be a weird comparison but think about Keith as a cat for a second. Everything will make much more sense.”

“I guess…?” Lance knitted his brows, thinking intensely. “What’s with the food thing then? He likes it but is too embarrassed to ask me to share so he takes it all like some savage?”

“Well, I’d say yes,” Shiro smiled sheepishly. 

“So what, I scratch him behind his ear and he’s gonna start purring?” Lance laughed. 

“That… I don’t know. To be honest, I’m not sure if anybody knows it,” Shiro sighed, getting serious. “I might be biased, I’m aware of that, but Keith is a good kid. He just has problems with fitting in and tends to gravitate towards the wrong crowd because of that. I couldn’t take care of him in the past and now it’s slightly too late for me to intervene. I don’t want to sound as if I used you, Lance, but… I really hope that you will help him. And, I think, that, despite what it might seem to you, you are doing a great job. So, really, big thanks to you for being his friend,” Shiro placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder and squeezed lightly.

*

“Oh, there you are,” Lance popped from around the corner, surprising Keith.

“Yeah,” Keith answered, not opening his eyes to look at Lance. He was sitting on the ground, enjoying the sun, his back leaning against the wall. He really did seem like a cat at the moment.

“You’re really good at finding secluded places around the school. That actually are comfy,” he plopped beside Keith. “You want some? I have more today. So I won’t stay hungry after you take it from me anyway,” Lance flashed his best smile at Keith, offering him half of his lunch. Now, after the talk with Shiro, he felt more confident and comfortable while talking with Keith.

“Who am I to refuse free food?” Keith shrugged. But, somehow, Lance recognised that Keith was definitely happy.

“ _Yeah, just like a cat. Big, black cat. The dangerous kind. Panther maybe,_ ” Lance thought and chuckled quietly.

“What?” Keith stopped eating and looked at him suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Lance shrugged, turning his attention to the food. 

*

With a new view on the whole thing, Lance noticed how wrong he was about Keith. Just like Shiro said, the situation wasn’t as bad as Lance had imagined it. Keith was unusual, sometimes weird person, no doubt, but Lance was too hung up on their rocky start, so he saw everything in the negative light. Now he understood that Keith was just awkward and wasn’t sure how to express himself in a more friendly way. And, suddenly, the time they were spending at school together was far more comfortable for both of them. Lance stopped being so pushy, stopped trying too hard. As a result, Keith stopped feeling so overwhelmed and lowered his guard a lot. Nowadays, he was even seeking Lance out on his own. 

The only thing left that Lance really wanted to achieve was to get Keith to hang out with him after school. No matter how hard he tried, Keith always refused.

Now, Lance was standing by the school gate, waiting for Keith in some sort of an ambush, at the same time trying to come up with another plan that might work. He was rather desperate, especially that even baiting Keith with food hasn’t worked. 

His train of thoughts got interrupted when three bikes drove past him and stopped in front of the gate, raving the engines.

“Hey, kid,” one of the bikers called out to Lance. “We need you to get us someone.”

“Huh? What if I don’t want to?” 

“You definitely want. Unless you'd rather have your face ruined.”

“No, thanks. To both,” Lance shrugged and started walking away. He flinched when one of the bikes cut him off.

“You’re going to get us someone from your school.”

“Sadly, I’m not the school idol and not everyone follows me so I’m not sure if I can help.”

“Shut your mouth. We’re sure that Akira is going to this school. And you’re going to get him for us.”

“Who? I don’t know anybody called that.”

“Bro, that ain’t his real name,” one of the guys butted in.

“Ah, yeah, right. Well, kid, we need you to get us an Asian dude with longish hair. He’s often wearing a red jacket and has a red bike,” Lance flinched at his words, there was no doubt that the whole commotion was about Keith. “That’s a rather distinct description so I’m sure you know who we’re talking about.”

“Oh my, sorry but I don’t know him. I’m a proper student who doesn’t associate with delinquents,” he flashed his most innocent smile.

“Delinquents, you say. Well, we gonna deal with you like delinquents then.”

Lance wasn’t sure how exactly it happened, but he realised that, during their conversation, the three guys managed to direct him into an empty back alley, not far from the school. 

“So, once again, you won’t help us with getting in contact with Akira?”

“I’ve told you already that I don’t know him.”

“Kid, don’t lie, assholes like him are easily recognisable, even if you aren’t his best friend. That fucker stopped picking up my calls shortly after moving here. It took us some time to find which school he attends. He’s still ignoring us though.”

“I don’t know how I could help you. Like, really,” Lance was trying to talk his way out of the situation. “I don’t know the guy. And even if I did - it seems like he doesn’t want to be friends with you anymore, so…” he shrugged. 

“Well, he has that kind of weird sense of justice, so maybe he won’t ignore a… schoolmate getting beaten up?” 

One of the guys grabbed Lance from behind, immobilising him. 

“What the hell?” Lance gasped, bewildered. 

“You are annoying, you know?” the guy smirked, throwing the first punch.

*

“Lance!” Keith run into the alley, out of his breath. He froze when he noticed Lance sitting on the ground, his face and shirt covered with blood.

“Looks like the _proper student_ lied to us about not knowing you, Akira.”

“He doesn’t have anything to do with thit so why the hell you-?” Keith growled, his whole body vibrating with anger. 

“Well, we got your attention so that’s all that matters,” the guy shrugged. “It’s not vise to ignore me, punk.”

“Oh, I definitely won’t now,” before he even finished, Keith lunged at the guy, surprising him with the first punch. 

Lance was observing the whole situation dizzily, not really believing his eyes. Keith was smaller than the three guys but he still managed to fight them all at the same time without much trouble. Despite the dangerous setting, all that Lance could think was ‘cool’.

Not long after, the fight ended. Keith was firmly standing over his opponents, who were crawling on the ground, trying to get away from him.

“Lance, fuck, Lance, are you ok?” Keith immediately went towards Lance, crouching by his side.

“I’m not sure,” Lance laughed weakly. “Everything hurts.”

“Yeah, no wonder. Can you-” 

“Keith!” Lance shouted, yanking Keith to the side and shielding him from a hit with a bat.

“Oops, I missed.”

“You persistent fucker,” Keith jumped to his feet and was moving even faster than before. When Lance came round and saw what was happening, Keith already had the guy pinned against the wall, pressing a knife against his throat. Keith was saying something but Lance wasn’t able to make the words out. Soon after, Lance and Keith were the only ones in the alley, the tension in the air slowly dissolving. 

“Are you ok?” Keith asked again. “Can you stand? We need to get you to the hospital.”

“I think I can. And hospital might be a good idea. At first, it hurt like hell but now my shoulder is totally numb and I don't feel anything. I don’t think it’s a good sign.”

“You think you can handle a ride on my bike? It’s going to be faster than waiting for an ambulance.”

“Whaaaat? You’re not only going to let me touch your bike but you’re also offering me a ride? Wow, what a character development.”

“Shut the fuck up or I’m gonna leave you here,” Keith grumbled but helped Lance up nevertheless. 

*

“Keith, decide what you wanna do, you’re scaring my neighbours,” Lance flung the door to his place open, surprising Keith.

“Ho-How did you know?” Keith stuttered.

“A very nice neighbour grandma said that there’s some thug hanging outside my apartment during school hours,” Lance shrugged. “You coming inside?” he asked after a long moment of silence, to which Keith only nodded his head.

There was a heavy, uncomfortable silence between them but Lance decided to keep quiet. He knew that he should give Keith some time. 

“I’m… sorry,” Keith finally said.

“For what?” Lance knitted his brows.

“For getting you involved. I don’t have the slightest idea how it happened, I especially avoided being with you outside of school but the things came to this anyway,” he sighed heavily.

“Wait, what?” Lance gaped at him. “ _That_ was the reason you were refusing constantly?!”

“Yeah? I mean, I knew what I was dealing with. I tried to protect you but still failed. So, really, sorry for that.”

“I can’t believe this…” Lance laughed heartily. “I’ll have you know that everything was just a coincidence. I mean, at some point I realised who they were talking about but I wouldn’t rat anyone out, no matter who they were,” he shrugged.

“You should have done that! Look what happened to you!” Keith raised his voice.

“It’s gonna heal sooner or later, no worries.”

“And what happened to ruining the most handsome face at school?”

“A scar or two won’t make a difference. And whaaaat, you think I’m handsome?” Lance sneered.

“Whatever,” Keith grumbled. “What about your shoulder?” he changed the topic.

“Could be better but it’s not that bad either. The bones and joint are fine but I have the biggest bruise of my life. Do you wanna see?”

“Eh?”

“Seriously, it’s enormous. And so dark. To be honest, I got scared when I saw it for the first time. Ah, you have to pull up my shirt yourself, though. Because moving too much hurts like hell,” Lance sat on his bed and turned his back towards Keith.

“Well, if you’re so insistent,” Keith mumbled and sat beside Lance. With trembling fingers, he grabbed the hem of Lance’s shirt and pulled it up. The second he saw the bruise, he flinched and let the shirt go. “Fuck, shit, I’m sorry, Lance, really.”

“Quite a sight, right?” Lance turned towards him. “But don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault. I got in this mess myself. What about you? I mean, I know I’m probably far worse but still - you fought with the three of them at the same time. Quite impressive to be honest.”

“Me? Ah, nothing much. Just few scratches and light bruises here and there. I’ve ruined my hands again, though,” he sighed heavily, pulling his gloves off. “I’m too used to fights, my knuckles are one big scar anyway but it’s annoying to have scabs here.”

“Man, you need to take better care of your hands, like seriously,” Lance grabbed Keith’s hand and started rubbing it with his fingers. “Scars and shit are one thing, but your skin is so rough. Have you ever heard of moisturisers? I know you’re a guy but still,” he started rambling. “I’m gonna take care of it later, it’s like I could exfoliate just like this,” he put Keith’s palm against his own cheek and rubbed lightly.

“Don’t do that,” Keith yanked his hand out of Lance’s hold. “I’ll misunderstand,” he added almost inaudibly.

“Huh? I’m not sure I’ve heard you,” Lance knitted his brows.

“Nothing. I’m glad you’re fine. I’ll leave now,” Keith hastily got up.

“Keith.”

“What?” he stopped, not turning towards Lance.

“I think I know you well enough to say that it’s not all, that you’re still bottling something. So?”

“I… I think that you should stop hanging out with me. It’s not good for you.”

“Huh? Turn around and say this nonsense to my face. Let me decide what is and what isn’t good for me,” Lance got genuinely angry. “Yeah, right, this accident might seem like your fault but this was simply a coincidence that they came across me. It could have been anybody else! Even someone you don’t know at all!”

“Lance, you really don’t understand. I’m not good to be around. For a lot of different reasons. Especially for you. I can’t control myself that well.”

“You’re talking as if I don’t know this already. You punched me the first time we met! But that was a long time ago. We had our ups and downs but it never happened again, so, really, I don’t know what else, what _worse thing_ , you might do,” he shrugged, glaring at Keith from below, challenge in his eyes.

Keith quickly took two big steps towards Lance and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt:

“For example this,” he leaned down, smashing their lips in a not-so-gentle kiss. “Don’t be nice to me, Lance. It won’t end well for you.”

“That… definitely wasn’t good. Have you ever heard of delicacy? I’m hurt and you’re yanking me likes this. Show me some consideration. Also - asking before kissing for the first time is good manners,” Lance started rambling again.

“You… totally missed the point,” Keith was staring at him, dumbfounded.

“Not really? From what I gather - you like me, are kind of frustrated and are worried because you might finally snap due to your short temper?” a blush on Keith’s face was enough of an answer for Lance. “If I might propose a solution - don’t worry, I’m not made of glass? Ah, but I’d like a gentler kiss anyway, if you could help that,” he tapped his lips with his index finger.

“What the hell, Lance?” Keith wasn’t sure what was happening.

“Well, I’m saying that it’s fine to kiss?”

“I’m a guy, Lance.”

“Wow, really? I haven’t realised,” Lance said in a flat tone.

“You are too much sometimes…” Keith whispered and sat beside Lance again, hiding his face in his hands.

“But you still like me, right?” Lance wriggled his eyebrows, nudging Keith with his elbow.

“Yeah, I do,” Keith answered sincerely. “Is it fine?” he asked, unsure, lightly touching Lance’s cheek with the tips of his fingers. “To kiss you?”

“Yeah,” Lance chuckled quietly, suddenly feeling nervous. But the tension faded the moment their lips touched again. Keith was far more careful and delicate than before, so Lance decided to add more pressure himself. He couldn’t really do that though, because when he leaned more into Keith, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He jumped back immediately and whined.

“I’m sorry, are you ok? I told you it was a bad idea,” Keith was quick to apologise and blame himself. 

“Give it a rest, this one was my fault. I got too impatient,” Lance grumbled.

“Eh?”

“Only soft smooches for now. Until my shoulder gets better,” he playfully pecked the corner of Keith’s lips.

“Yeah,” Keith agreed absentmindedly. He couldn’t really wrap his mind around what just happened.

“We can try to lie down but it might be hard to find the right position for me,” Lance pushed Keith down and then intensely stared at him, trying to come up with the best, least painful position for himself. When he finally settled beside Keith, laying his head on Keith’s shoulder, he chuckled at how stiff the other was:

“Hey, you can relax, you know? You breathing won’t hurt me.”

“Yeah. No. Um… this is… a first for me so…” Keith turned his head away, too embarrassed to look at Lance.

“Well, there’s always a first for everything,” Lance playfully pinched Keith’s side. “Anyway, I wanted to ask you something.”

“About?”

“These guys, they called you ‘Akira’. Where did that came from?”

“Ah… It’s kind of… Well, first of all - I’m- No, I _was_ racing.” 

“Whoa, like, on your bike?” Lance butted in, amazed.

“Yeah. I promised Shiro to not do it anymore. One of these guys was the one I raced against the last time. I won and he was holding a grudge, I guess. And it caused all this mess. Anyway, back to the topic - you know that I’m part Japanese, right? So, we have this - a Japanese guy who’s racing, has a red bike and a red jacket, right?”

“Yeah.”

“This is so embarrassing to say out loud…” Keith sighed. “And there’s an old anime movie. Where one of the characters is a young Japanese guy who races on a red bike and has a red jacket.”

“And his name was Akira?” Lance laughed.

“Actually… No. His name was Kaneda. Akira was someone… something? someone? else. And ‘Akira’ was also the title. But it was close enough for them, I guess,” Keith shrugged. “It’s a cool movie, though. So I don’t mind.”

“Hm… now I wanna watch it. Idea for the first official date?”

“Sounds good. Wait, what?!”

“Sounds good,” Lance repeated with a chuckle and tried to kiss Keith again. His shoulder prevented him from doing that, though. “Aaaah, I never knew I was so impatient,” he grumbled.

“So I’m not the only one,” Keith moved a bit, so their faces were closer, and kissed Lance.

**Author's Note:**

> Of course I had to slip in the Akira references. It fits so well! Even more if we consider than in the original, Japanese version of GoLion, Keith was named Akira. 
> 
> Also on [tumblr](http://my-trashy-writing.tumblr.com/post/165121824281/keith-transfers-to-another-school-during-his-third).


End file.
